As ritual Daoism developed over the past few thousand years \u2013 blending ancient shamanic practices with Laozi\u2019s insights and coming into contact with Buddhism \u2013 the concept of \u201cThree Treasures\u201d or San Bao (\u4e09\u5bf6) emerged.\u00a0 As with any three-fold concept in Daoism, these relate to Heaven, Earth, & Humankind \u2013 or yang, yin, & the union thereof, respectively.<\/p>\n
The Three Treasures of ritual Daoism are Dao, Jing, & Shi.\u00a0 These roughly translate as way, scripture, & mastery.\u00a0 (Note there are also Three Treasures of alchemical Daoism and Three Treasures of Laozi \u2013 I\u2019m not talking about those).<\/p>\n
Dao (\u9053) or way refers to the primordial origin \u2013 the hidden wellspring that gives birth to myriad worlds & creatures.\u00a0 Where we come from and where we go.\u00a0 It also refers to the eternal procession of birth, growth, maturation, decline, & death.\u00a0 The character implies grass growing by itself \u2013 the spontaneous emergence of worlds & creatures.<\/p>\n
Jing (\u7d93) or scripture refers to the teachings of Dao \u2013 the views & methods that our lineage ancestors have passed down to us as guidance on how to encounter & embody Dao.\u00a0 The character implies woven thread, referring to written teachings and also implying fundamental principle \u2013 the common thread running through the fabric of Daoist practice.<\/p>\n
Shi (\u5e2b) or mastery refers to our resulting experience when we practice and conduct ourselves according to the teachings of Dao.\u00a0 It often refers to our teachers or practice community, or even hidden immortals who bring us insights.\u00a0 The character implies accumulation and exaltation. \u00a0In the view of Laozi\u2019s Daoism, mastery is abiding continuously in the wellspring amidst myriad phenomena.\u00a0 Laozi sees such abiding as our natural condition.<\/p>\n
Dao-Jing-Shi correspond respectively to Buddha-Dharma-Sangha, and the notion of taking refuge (\u62dc) probably comes from Buddhism.\u00a0 The starting point of Buddhism is the recognition that life brings discomfort (dukkha) so let\u2019s find a way out.\u00a0 Laozi doesn\u2019t suggest we need any refuge from reality \u2013 we\u2019re just there, perpetually, ever-embraced and supported by the primordial origin.\u00a0 But he does acknowledge that human beings have a tendency to lose our way \u2013 so the Daoist approach to the Three Treasures is, to the extent that we lose touch with reality (Dao), it\u2019s nice to have guidance (Jing) pointing us back to our natural condition (Shi).\u00a0 The character for taking refuge or paying homage shows a hand placing crops on an altar \u2013 a sacrificial offering.\u00a0 Giving to receive.\u00a0 Daoists don\u2019t worship deities but in ritual practice do place Dao-Jing-Shi on a pedestal to sanctify them and place ourselves in a position to receive energy and inspiration.<\/p>\n
A traditional ritual gesture for taking refuge is to light three sticks of incense at our altar, hold them up, and recite: \u201cI take refuge in Dao; I take refuge in Jing; I take refuge in Shi\u201d, then bow three times and place the incense in our burner.<\/p>\n
Real stuff comes through when we take refuge in Dao, Jing, & Shi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As ritual Daoism developed over the past few thousand years \u2013 blending ancient shamanic practices with Laozi\u2019s insights and coming into contact with Buddhism \u2013 the concept of \u201cThree Treasures\u201d or San Bao (\u4e09\u5bf6) emerged.\u00a0 As with any three-fold concept in Daoism, these relate to Heaven, Earth, & Humankind \u2013 or yang, yin, & the … Continue reading “Taking Refuge: The Three Treasures of Ritual Daoism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,8,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}